Cry 'Havoc' and Let Slip the Dogs of War

-Julius Caesar

Oh, how Remus hated the full moon.

He was only spending a year teaching at Hogwarts, and the full moon was constantly stealing his days from it. Not to mention the toll it had taken on him since he was four, and the painfulness of the transformations themselves.

Once upon a happier time, Remus would've been attended to by his best friends, James and Sirius and Peter. But now, all he could do was be thankful that he had Wolfsbane to ease the transformation. With Wolfsbane, he still transformed, but into a sleepy, harmless wolf. It did a great deal to quell his fears of afflicting anybody else with lycanthropy.

Now that he was feeling somewhat better, he was going to have to catch up on what had been taught in his class while he was absent, who had taught it, and what he was going to have to teach. For every single class. Oh, this wasn't going to be fun.

After having breakfast in the Great Hall, Remus decided to speak to McGonagall about it. The entire staff knew about his lycanthropy anyway, so he had asked his former Transfiguration Professor to cover his vacancy.

On his way to McGonagall's office, however, he saw Tonks in the middle of the hall, in conversation with one of her fellow Aurors, Robards. As she saw Remus, however, she frowned and immediately marched over to him, looking irate.

"Hi," he said, confused as to why she looked so angry. "Is something wrong?"

"I'll tell you what's wrong," she said in a low voice. "Come with me."

She grabbed his hand and pulled him towards an empty classroom. His heart started to pound. Had she figured out about his lycanthropy? Was she mad at him for not telling her? Was she mad that he was a Dark creature and hadn't told her?

"Colloportus," she spat, and the door slammed shut.

"Is everything okay?" he asked apprehensively.

"No. Everything is not okay." She blew her hair, which was now bright red, out of her face. "Snape taught your classes while you were out. I watched every single one of them. And I hate him so much right now, I really wish I could've slapped his face."

"Why? What happened?"

"Well, he went completely off curriculum. And gave a lecture about werewolves."

His heart lurched. She knew.

"Which really isn't supposed to be covered in a third-year class! I wish you could've seen it, he deliberately set the lesson that way to see if anyone would figure out. But that's compromising your position! Your job! And that's really not okay!"

"Wait, Dora," he interjected softly. "You know, don't you? You know I'm a werewolf?"

"Yes, yes," she said impatiently. "Let me continue. He commented on your lack of organization, how dare he! You're one of the most organized people I know! And he kept talking about how incompetent you were, how you didn't deserve to be a Professor in the subject, like he could've been any better! Everyone loves you! You're the best teacher they've had!"

"Dora," he cut in again. "Dora, don't you realize that I'm a Dark creature?"

"Of course I do," she snapped. "You're a werewolf, I get it. But Snape! Remus, look at what he's doing to you! I don't know how he was even allowed to teach your classes while you were out! That's not okay!"

He touched her shoulder gently. "You're not angry?"

"Heck, I am! I've never been more angry in my life! What a jerk he's being, Remus!"

"You're not angry that I'm a werewolf?"

She faltered. "What? Why would I be angry about that? I'm sorry, by the way, I know you probably hate it. But that's not the pressing matter at hand here! Look what Snape's…"

"Dora." He slid his arm around her waist and pulled her towards him. "Do you understand what it means that I'm a werewolf?"

Her expression softened. "Yeah. I know it's hard. Nobody knows, do they?"

"That's… that's beside the point," he stuttered, his mind racing. Did she just not grasp the subject? Why wasn't she angry? Where was the rejection? The panic, the screaming, the 'I can't believe you!' or the 'You led me on!' or the 'Why didn't you tell me?!'. It wasn't happening the way he had expected it to go at all. "The staff knows, yes, but…"

His voice trailed off. How was he supposed to tell her 'I expect you to be running away from me or cursing me, why aren't you doing that? Not that I don't like it, of course, but what are you thinking right now?' without scaring her away even more?

She looked murderous. "Snape knows. He knows, and he's still trying to get you in trouble! Don't you understand what he's doing? What if he drops more obvious hints next time, what are you going to do about it?"

"Dora," he said softly, "I don't care about Snape. I don't care about what he did this time, or what he might do next time. But don't you understand? Why… why aren't you getting angry?"

"Do you want me to go talk to Snape, should I yell at him for you? Because it's not fair what he's doing to you!" she asked, paying him no notice.

"I don't care about Snape. That grudge goes way back. He can do what he pleases, it's enough for me that he makes me Wolfsbane," he replied calmly.

"That's no exception!" she said furiously. "Did you know, Remus, he assigned the third-years an essay on how to recognize and kill werewolves?! Kill werewolves?! Remus, that's unacceptable behavior! He has the audacity to force your third-years to learn how to kill your kind! That's evil, Remus, surely you understand we can't let him get away with that!"

"Dora, I…"

"No, Remus, you listen! You can't let Snape get away with this! He needs to know that we aren't going to put up with that kind of behavior! We're not going to just sit by and watch the show, no. We have to let him know that we aren't going to tolerate it!"

"Dora, please, just forget Snape for a minute. Why… Why aren't you angry at me? Why aren't you scared, or repulsed, or mad? Why aren't you hexing me or running away from me?"

"Why would I do any of that stuff? Because you're a werewolf? Look, Remus, we can talk about that later. What's important right now is that you tell me what you want me to do to Snape and I will do it. You're still recovering from your transformation, so you get your rest. But I'm going to kill him!"

He held her close against him, though she was wriggling to escape. "No, Remus, stop! You can't stop me from getting back at him for this! He's hurt you, and he'll pay."

"Dora," he implored. "Please. Just listen to me. Let me get this straight. You know I'm a werewolf, you know that I'm a Dark creature, and you're not scared? You're not angry?"

She sighed. "How many times do I have to say it? No! I'm not scared of you, Remus! I'm not angry at you,either, but I am about to explode at Snape. Now let me go!"

"No." He tightened his grip on her waist. "No, Dora, I'm not going to let you get in trouble because of me. Snape has hated me since our Hogwarts years. My friends did some pretty horrible things to him. It's only natural that he hates me like this. Please don't worry about Snape. It doesn't bother me in the slightest."

"Well, it bothers me!" she cried in a strained voice. "It bothers me that he hurts you, because I like you, and I care about what he tries to do to you!"

"I am touched, Dora, truly, but Snape is not worth your anger. I, on the other hand…"

"Remus, stop being so hard on yourself. No, I am not angry with you. Seriously, I'm not.. But please understand that we need to do something about Snape! Look, we can't let him go around telling everyone that you're a werewolf, that's going to cost you your position and your reputation! I won't allow it, Remus."

He sighed. She did have a point. It wouldn't do good for the entire school to know that he was a werewolf.

"How about I speak to Severus?" he suggested.

She shook her head. "No way. He'll just take it out on you. If anything, I'm going to be the one talking to Snape. How about I speak to Dumbledore?"

"No, don't bother with the headmaster. I'm sure he has more pressing matters to handle."

"No, Remus, this is important! It's his Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor we're talking about here!" she argued.

"Okay. You may speak to Dumbledore, but leave Severus alone."

She shook her head defiantly. "Not a chance."

He leaned his forehead against hers, still gripping her waist tightly. "Don't do anything to him, please. I don't want you to get involved in all of this."

"But I am involved, Remus, I'm already involved, because I won't accept Snape treating you like this!" she protested.

"Why?" he asked, his anger rising. "Why do you care so much about what happens to me? Snape takes a dig at me, fine. It doesn't change anything, Dora! Why can't you understand?"

He regretted the words as soon as they came out of his mouth; she went limp in his arms and closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," he whispered quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lose my temper, it's just…"

"No," she said softly. "Why are you apologizing? It's my fault. I'm sorry. I won't bother in the future."

She managed to extricate herself from his grasp. "I won't speak to Dumbledore either, if that'll make you happy. Feel better, Remus."

Without even looking back at him, she headed towards the door.

"Dora," he called hoarsely. "Dora, come back…"

But it was of no use; she was already gone.

He cursed under his breath. It had been so long since he had last had to handle girls. Not like it was her fault; it was completely his. And she was only trying to help, because she was concerned about him…

Remus cursed again. He didn't have an explanation as to why he liked her so much, but his relationship with her had been so smooth up until now; she hadn't even cared about the fact that he was a werewolf. He couldn't mess this up now, especially not over Snape.

He hurried out of the empty classroom and made his way to the Great Hall, but there was no sign of her. He saw Robards talking to Professor Sprout, however, so he approached them.

"Hi, Auror Robards, have you seen… er, Auror Tonks recently?" Remus asked tentatively.

Robards shrugged. "Last I saw her was just before she marched over to you. Haven't seen her since."

"Okay," he muttered. "Thank you."

Where else could she be? He needed to speak to her now, or this would be escalated further. Her room, maybe? She had mentioned that the Aurors stayed behind the Transfiguration classroom, maybe she would be there? Remus rushed over to the Aurors' quarters.

"Tonks?" he called out tenderly. "Are you there?"

No response. She probably wouldn't have come back here, anyway. She wasn't a coward, like he was.

Where else could she be?

Then he heard a small voice echoing from the Transfiguration classroom.

"Orchideous."

He walked quickly to McGonagall's classroom to find Tonks sitting on a table, her knees against her chest, waving her wand and conjuring beautiful flowers out of the end of it. He approached her slowly.

"What do you want, Remus?" she asked in a bored voice. With a wave of her wand, the flowers rearranged into intricate patterns.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm really sorry, I don't want to hurt you. It's just that I don't want you to get involved in all of this. These are my problems, my burdens, and I don't want you to have to wade through any of them."

She didn't say anything. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her.

"I didn't mean to snap at you, Dora," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. I don't want to make excuses, but I just got off of the... the moon cycle last night, and I tend to be more moody closer to the moon."

"It's not your fault," she replied quietly. "I'm sorry. I should've known."

He nuzzled his head into her neck. "You have no reason to be sorry. I don't want to see you upset. Please talk to Dumbledore for me."

She nodded. "I will."

He closed his eyes and relaxed as she eased into his touch. It felt so natural. So right.

"Remus?"

"Yeah?"

"Er, not that I mind, but, er, don't you have a class or something?"

"Yeah. But it's okay, it's only just started."

"I don't want you to be late just because of me," she said softly.

"There's nobody else I'd rather be late because of," he responded truthfully. "But you're right, I probably should get going."

She smiled wistfully. "I'm sorry."

He planted a kiss on the top of her head, letting his lips linger. "Don't be. I'll see you later."

"Bye."

Remus walked out of the Transfiguration classroom, mentally cursing himself. What had overcome him with the desire to kiss her? What was he doing? As much as he liked her, he knew she didn't like him, not in that way, and he was thirteen years older than her. Now she would think he was a creep, one of those Professors who doted on his students. Merlin, what had he done?

Even if Tonks did seem a little flustered when she talked to him, it wasn't practical for him to be involved with her; she was twenty, and he was thirty-three. She was whole, and he was broken. And that sealed the matter.

Remus walked towards his classroom, late for the second time because of Tonks, though he didn't mind in the slightest. Because as much as he knew that a relationship with the young Auror wasn't realistic, his heart didn't seem to care.

A/N: Here we are! I know in HBP Hermione resorts to practicing spells when she gets upset about Ron and Lavender (oppugno!), and I thought that it would probably be common for a lot of people to kind of do that in the Wizarding World. Hence the orchideous :)

Thank you so much to everyone who's read and reviewed, faved and followed! It means a lot! :)

My sister and I may do a Jily/Remadora epic in a couple of weeks. Any thoughts? Anything you'd like us to add? Let me know!